What's the difference between Blue Cuckoo Maran and Blue Marans?

[Heatwaves]

A couple hatcheries only have photos of chicks for the Blue Cuckoo Maran, so it's hard to see what they mature into. When I google photos of them, a lot of the images appear to be using both names interchangeably for the same photos and there doesn't appear to be a distinguishable difference.

I'm curious because I'm going to be purchasing new chicks next year, but I don't want to buy both breeds if they're going to look rather identical. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you in the USA or somewhere else? In the USA Blue and Blue Cuckoo are not recognized colors/patterns. They may be in other countries?

Different hatcheries might sell non-approved colors/patterns. There is no chicken police out there making sure they follow any standards. So they can sell whatever their customers may want. Which hatcheries are you looking at and how do they describe them. A Blue Cuckoo should be barred and look quite different in pattern to a Blue Wheaten. Or maybe they are talking about a solid Blue? If you can give us a link to the ones you are considering we may be able to help.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Blues are blue.
Blue cuckoo are barred blue. (Like a barred rock pattern except blue and white instead of black and white.
Nothing wrong with having non recognized colors/patterns if you're not planning on showing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Blues are blue.
Blue cuckoo are barred blue. (Like a barred rock pattern except blue and white instead of black and white.
Nothing wrong with having non recognized colors/patterns if you're not planning on showing.

Totally agree with all this. Blue barred is pretty clear but I'm not as trusting that what should be blue really would be. I don't always trust marketing names.

I was wondering if the OP was just seeing photos of chicks, not the adults. Those could look the same.

 

[Heatwaves]

Are you in the USA or somewhere else? In the USA Blue and Blue Cuckoo are not recognized colors/patterns. They may be in other countries?

Different hatcheries might sell non-approved colors/patterns. There is no chicken police out there making sure they follow any standards. So they can sell whatever their customers may want. Which hatcheries are you looking at and how do they describe them. A Blue Cuckoo should be barred and look quite different in pattern to a Blue Wheaten. Or maybe they are talking about a solid Blue? If you can give us a link to the ones you are considering we may be able to help.

I'm in the US. The hatchery I typically order from is Meyer Hatchery. But both that hatchery and mypetchicken.com have them offered (with the same photos). I've had great experiences from Meyer in the past, but just can't really tell what the difference would be from their website. And I just realized that the blue maran is actually a blue copper maran.

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=BCMS
https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=UCMS

 

[Ridgerunner]

MyPetChicken is not actually a hatchery, they drop-ship. That means they get their chicks from hatcheries. Meyer is probably one of those, I'd guess that's why the same photos.

The Meyer hatchery photos aren't loading for me this morning so I can't compare photos. Sometimes I love the internet. I don't know how Meyer makes their Blue Copper Marans or Blue Cuckoo. But if they look like Black Copper Marans and Black Cuckoo Marans, you should be able to go to follow this link to Feathersite and see what the black versions look like and then imagine them blue instead of black.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGK/Marans/BRKMarans.html

One immediate difference is that the Cuckoo will be barred while the Copper will not. That barring does not show on the chicks down, only when the feathers come in. So they will look different as adults.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Also with the blue barred birds its not as notable as with a black barred bird. I have had barred blue birds that you couldn't really see the barring from a distance. Of course with black barred birds its noticeable from as far as you can see the bird pretty much.

 

[Cdariverfarm]

Blue cuckoo